Republican governors ad pegs Andrew Gillum as ‘way out there’

The Republican Governors Association is entering the Florida election with a television commercial debuting Wednesday that declares that Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum is so far out there, “he’s on another planet.”

The new 30-second spot, “Too Far,” outlines Gillum’s positions favoring universal health care, a tax increase on corporations to pay for expanded education funding, and to abolish and replace the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and charges that he and his ideas go “too far” for Floridians. Two of those three items, involving health care and ICE, are federal matters, outside the power of the governor’s office, though Gillum has expressed his support for them.

The commercial debuts today on Florida television. The RGA did not detail the buy.

Gillum is facing Republican U.S. Rep. Ron DeSantis in Florida’s Nov. 6 gubernatorial election, which is bound to become increasingly fought over by national party groups.

Gillum’s campaign responded with a statement that accused the RGA of a “pitiful” attempt to distract from DeSantis’ issues, and read, in part: “As Governor, Andrew Gillum wants to create a Florida where we work to grow the economy for the middle class, expand access to affordable health care, and welcome our diverse communities. Ron DeSantis is ‘on another planet’ if he thinks Floridians support his D.C. record of slashing health care for Floridians, creating special tax breaks for billionaires, and attacking the Latino community. There’s a clear choice in this campaign between Andrew Gillum’s Florida values and Ron DeSantis’s radical D.C. record.”

“How far out is Andrew Gillum? He’s on another planet!” the narrator begins.

“Andrew Gillum wants a government takeover of health care,” the narrator continues. “You’d lose the coverage you have. And you could even lose your doctor. Gillum wants to increase Florida taxes by a billion dollars, disaster for the economy. And he supports closing our immigration enforcement agency. Dangerous!

About The Author

Scott Powers is an Orlando-based political journalist with 30+ years’ experience, mostly at newspapers such as the Orlando Sentinel and the Columbus Dispatch. He covers local, state and federal politics and space news across much of Central Florida. His career earned numerous journalism awards for stories ranging from the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster to presidential elections to misplaced nuclear waste. He and his wife Connie have three grown children. Besides them, he’s into mystery and suspense books and movies, rock, blues, basketball, baseball, writing unpublished novels, and being amused. Email him at scott@floridapolitics.com.